Foreword

Europe's tech excellence spans businesses and borders, from household names like Mercedes-Benz that are transforming their global IT operations with agentic AI, to energy leaders like Spain’s Iberdrola using machine learning to cut customer energy consumption by up to 30%.

 

The fourth edition of Unlocking Europe’s AI Potential shows that over half of European (54%) businesses have now adopted AI, up from 33% two years ago. This milestone moment shows we have the tools, the talent and the imagination to excel in the AI era.

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However, the research also highlights a critical gap in the depth of adoption.

 

Only 22% of businesses are using AI for advanced use cases, a minor increase from last year’s figure of 21%. This is a critical miss. Advanced AI lets organisations move beyond efficiency gains to fundamentally transform how they operate, innovate, and serve customers. 

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With advanced AI, companies can test ideas in days rather than months and continuously improve based on real-time insights. This speed advantage is the defining competitive edge of our era. Coupled with Europe’s existing strengths, it gives home-grown talent the ability to keep pace with global competitors in industries where early mover advantage can define a generation of growth.

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Using advanced AI, European startups like CareMates are transforming healthcare delivery, cutting patient admission times by 80%, and Iktos is halving drug development timelines, bringing hope to millions with rare diseases. We need more of this.

 

Instead, we have a situation where over half of Europe's highest-growth startups would consider leaving.  When high-value talent relocates, Europe loses the entire innovation flywheel: the jobs, the talent, the tax revenue, and the innovations solving global challenges. We cannot let this happen.

 

This report identifies three challenges holding back European businesses and driving founder flight. Access to finance: businesses still lack the funding, incentives, and investment certainty to scale their AI ambitions. Regulatory fragmentation: scaling across Europe remains too complicated and costly. And finally, digital and AI skills shortages: many businesses lack the talent, workforce readiness, or capacity needed to implement AI use effectively.

 

We must work collaboratively across Europe to create the conditions that businesses need to thrive and scale.

 

We need to support organisations to invest with confidence, nurture a marketplace that makes it easier for innovators of all sizes to scale across borders, provide access to the best technology and infrastructure to help businesses grow and we need digital and AI skills to drive the next wave of innovation.

 

Businesses empowered to embrace this transformation today will define Europe's economic future tomorrow, creating jobs, attracting talent, and pioneering innovations that improve lives across the continent and beyond.

 

We recognise the challenges that European businesses face. We consistently hear from our customers that choice, control, and agility are key to their ability to remain competitive in a rapidly evolving AI landscape.

 

Amazon is committed to playing our part. Through services like Amazon Bedrock, we provide access to the broadest selection of AI models and tools, giving businesses the flexibility to choose what works best for them. Earlier this year, we announced the general availability of the AWS European Sovereign Cloud to give customers enhanced data residency and operational autonomy while maintaining full access to cutting-edge AI capabilities. And we continue to invest in skills development, offering free AI training to help Europeans develop their AI expertise.

 

The opportunity in front of Europe is significant, but the moment to act is now. Realising it will require collaboration, investment, and decisive action.